Chronicles of the Elusive Angel 1: Lullaby
by Kenjaje
Summary: Stitch must gather the courage to consult Lilo about a problem that bothering him that concerns her and Angel. Past experiences give him love shy nightmare's, and problems accelerate when a new threat appears, and Lilo is falling ill! PG for violancemisc.
1. Dreaming Without Thought

Chronicles of the Elusive Angel:

Lullaby (Volume 1)

C/By: Kenjaje

Edited/Revised by: raVen

Chapter 1: Dreaming Without Thought

Stitch slightly stirred from sleeping, he felt awake but couldn't move. In the zone where your not really awake, yet not asleep. He shifted on his mattress that was on the softwood floor near Lilo's bed, and feeling more awake he opened his eyes to look at Lilo.

Her head was dark against the white pillow; her black hair was frilled and dressed over the top of the sheets. Her hand lay next to her head, the other one out of sight. Stitch looked at the alarm clock on the nightstand, straining his neck. It was 3:34 a.m.

For eight more minutes he attempted to sleep, closing his eyes and half thinking to himself, slowly he would drift, but he would always return to conciseness. Figuring it was impossible for him to sleep, he sat up. The blur in his eyes cleared a little bit, and he yawned quietly.

Not coming a good reason why he woke up, he decided it must have been because he was hungry. Throwing the sheets off his body, he crept along the soft wood floor, not making a sound. He opened Lilo's bedroom door, and shut it with the knob turned, so that it wouldn't click.

The hall was dark, and he was too sleepy to turn on his inferred vision, so he scaled the walls to the other side. He turned the corner and let down to walk down the stairs slowly so as to be quiet. At the bottom he stepped onto the cool sandy tiles, and made his way to the kitchen with a soft "click click click" of his toenails.

He sought for the fridge, opened it and peered inside. "oooo…What to eat?" he asked himself, looking at the lettuce, tomato, apples, milk, soda, and coffee. "Blegh." He said, looking at most of the healthy food. He overlooked the coffee; as he wanted to sleep, not stay awake. His eyes panned over the lower half of the refrigerator. "Ah! Chaki!" he exclaimed and grabbed a large ham—which was cloned from the original to reduce fat—and ate it in a mouthful.

_"There,"_ Stitch thought, _"Now maybe I can get to sleep."_

Making his way back to Lilo's room, a bit louder this time, he shut the door as he did before and turned around, to find Lilo awake in her bed.

"What's going on?" She whispered.

"Nothing, I was hungry." Stitch replied.

Giving stitch a sarcastically foul glance, she got up and yawned, scratched her eyes, and thumped on the floor. Lilo scoffed at the noise she made, she didn't want it to sound that loud. A moment passed where she didn't move, and listened for signs of recognition to her noise. Nothing, she continued to talk to Stitch..

"What got you up at this hour?" she asked, looking at the clock, which read 4:57. Stitch looked at her as if he was thinking very hard, he came to a conclusion that it really _was_ his hunger that woke him up, however now he still wasn't sure.

"I have to go to the bathroom, I'll be right back ok?"

"Eh." Stitch replied and sat on his mattress. After she left he waited a few seconds and then looked around the room. Saw the books on the shelves, the dolls on the floor, the cars on the dresser, and Lilo's hula costume in the open closet. The tower was destroyed during their recent experiment capture, so they had to go back down to Lilo's room, until they could rebuild it.

This made him think of Angel. Ever since the incident Angel has been on his mind. She had stopped meeting him, probably because he was always near Lilo. He had other thought's about Lilo and Angel as well, one that bothered him was that, he loved them both but did he _love_ Lilo like he _loved _Angel? More importantly, would Lilo allow him to love Angel?

This haunted him, because he met Lilo long ago, but he loved her as a friend. Did she know that? Or did she think of him as more then a friend, as a soul mate? He dreaded this thought, they were both girls, a true fact, and he loved them both, but how would they feel about that? He thought of this hypothetically however, he didn't expect to have Lilo and Angel getting along at anything anymore.

Would Angel hate him for loving Lilo? And would Lilo feel the same way with Angel? He took this time to weigh his thoughts: Lilo was kind, gentle, and sometimes a bit extreme in possession, but otherwise she was nice. Was this a "girlfriend" as they called them on this planet? Or was Angel his girlfriend?

Angel he hardly knew. They had encountered each other many times, each time she did nothing evil or good toward him, she never sang her song to try and turn someone evil, and never even seemed to care about him. Except her eyes wielded a sign. He could tell, she wishes something every time she looks at him but he doesn't know what.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a soft rustle outside the window. He looked at the clock; it was only about 5 so Sparky could have come by to say "hi" as he did occasionally in the morning.

Stitch opened the window, but saw nothing. "Sparky? Sparky, ju shata?" No reply. He opened the window more, and slid out. Walking for a few seconds, he noticed bushes rumbling, trees swaying in the soft wind, singing its song.

This song reminded him of Angel's, except this one didn't turn anyone evil. That would be great, if there was a way to make Angel's song ineffective forever. He closed his eyes to help remember the song. He heard it echo at first, but then clearly in his ears, he breathed to its tune, which he loved so much, but soon realized he was hearing it all too well.

He opened his eyes and broke his concentration on his love's song, but still heard it. "Huh?" he wondered. Was someone singing her song? Was it Jumba playing it on the computer? No, Jumba wasn't up at 5 a.m. "Then that means!" stitch didn't finish, he excitedly ran off into the woods.

A few minutes of running, and of the song getting louder and louder, he at last came close. It was loud and distinct, surely it wasn't being sung because _she_ just wanted to sing it, and she always sang it for a reason, so where was it coming from? He stopped at a large bush circle, and looked around, the moon was almost full and he could see very well now that his eyes adjusted.

The bushes rustled again, Stitch went to take a closer look, he stepped on a branch and broke it loudly and instantly the song stopped. His heart pounded, loud enough to be heard. He waited, for how long he couldn't know, but he waited in silence, not moving his foot, not moving his mouth, not moving his ever-hopeful heart.

Once again the bushes rustled, but this time more violently, and something was coming out. At this point Stitch relaxed a little and let his hopes go down, because he knew it couldn't be Angel, and he didn't want to get hurt. But, despite what he believed, he saw the bottom half of a pink creature came out of the bushes. "Angel?" Stitch asked.

"Gutcha."

Lilo came out of the bathroom, and shut the door with a click. She couldn't go back to sleep now, she was too awake. She was also hungry and decided to eat a little breakfast, it was legal to eat breakfast at 5:00 a.m.

She, unlike Stitch, walked down the stairs without fear of waking Nani-Zilla. She also made her way to the fridge, and opened it up. Stitch already ate half of the fridge, so there wasn't much left. Seeing a full jug of milk she decided on cereal.

"For promotional advertising: cereal is the best and healthiest breakfast of all!" she exclaimed quietly while grabbing a box of Choco-Rocks. She sat down on the kitchen table, the chair was cool and the kitchen was peaceful.

"Sure is quiet when Stitch ain't around." She said to herself, then she took a spoonful of Rocks to her mouth and ate it whole. After a few minutes she looked out the window. The day was just beginning.

Stitch and Angel looked at each other for a long time, he thought of thousands of things to say, to ask, to shout, to roar! But for some reason, they were locked up inside him, some unseen force was shutting his mouth and taking his tongue away.

The stars still twinkled in the night, and the moon was just a yard above the horizon. The only reason Stitch knew this was because Angel's head was beautifully right next to the big pearl. He wanted to talk, but she had to break the ice.

"Stitch?" she asked. "kara ju naga qaste?" A knot began to form and tighten inside Stitch's throat. His tongue became course and he craved water, his eyes were dry and he felt tense all over.

"N-naga fala…" Stitch was confused and yet satisfied as to why Angel was here. But he couldn't help wondering if she was up to something. Was she here to trick him? Was she here to tell him something secretive? He had to ask. "Why is Angel here?"

"Stitch—Boochiboo—se miga naga meru ochenta iba…"

"But what?" He asked, she looked down at the grass. A gust of wind blew her ruffled fur clean. "What is happening, iba ju chaki?" Loud footsteps could be heard over the distance. The day was just shining over the horizon.

"Gantu es chusse miga. Naga chrono, iba miga somba tele ju a record, veja petien."

"What message?" Stitch urged hastily, Gantu was after Angel and if he caught her and Stitch together, Gantu would figure out that they were working together.

"Achie-baba Kino." She said in his ear, and ran off. _"Cousin killer."_

Lilo was finished with her breakfast and was making her way up the stairs when she heard a crash from her room. She hurried there and opened the door to see what Stitch had broken, but there was no one there.

"Stitch?" She asked in hopes of response. No answer, she looked around her room and found nothing broken. "Stitch?" She asked louder. Still nothing, she went to her bed and stood up to get a higher view of her room. Everything looked in tact. "STITCH?" She screamed. Still there was no answer.

She walked over to the window to call through it, and that's where she found what had broken. The glass was jagged, and on the bottom of the window was a hole about the size of her little blue dog.

"He drank coffee again." She inferred. Annoyed, she stepped out the window, and found Stitch running back from down the path. He was excited, or scared, of what had just occurred.


	2. Two Places At Once

Lullaby

C/By: Kenjaje

Edited/Revised by: raVen

Chapter 2: Kidnapping

"But Nani, Stitch didn't mean to-"

"NO BUTS!" Nani screamed. It was later in the afternoon and Nani had just discovered what had taken place just a few hours prior. Stitch and Lilo were sitting on the living room couch, Jumba and Pleakley were standing on either side and Nani was flaming at all of them.

"Do you know how much this is going to cost? I barely got down the payments on Ms. Hasegouwa's ruined shop, and the hula lessons, and the shore shack, and the yacht…"

"OK OK, Stitch and I are very sorry, but whatever happened, he didn't mean to break the window."

"Eh." Stitch acknowledged, dry and lowly. Though Stitch didn't know exactly what was going on himself, he was framed and he knew it. But no one would believe the little blue monstrosity was innocent, especially not Nani. So the best option for Stitch was to relax and behave for a few days, which never worked.

"You know what? I'll make a bet with you, I bet that you can't catch this next experiment without breaking one, and I mean ONE, thing." Stitch was brought back to attention, he had wondered off for some reason, and suddenly realized that he could have possibly missed an entire half of the conversation.

"Your on! If we win the bet, you have to stop blaming Stitch for every little thing that keeps happening around here!"

"And if I win, not only do we send him to obedience school, but we chain him up in the yard like all other dogs."

"_Dog." _Stitch thought. "_Is that all I am? A dog? What difference is there between me and another dog? We bite, scratch, sniff, and attack old women and mail men, except I'm an experiment from outer space."_

Stitch snapped back to reality, and found himself alone. Everyone had gone, and the sun was shining where Nani stood for some time back. Stitch leapt off the couch and landed with a click, then shuffled off to the stairs up to Lilo's room.

Before he opened the door, he heard Jumba humming to himself, and then the sound of Pleakley's vacuum turning on, followed by Jumba's loud screaming.

"I AM WORKING ON VERY IMPORTANT EVIL GENIOUSE TYPE PROJECT, COULD YOU BE KEEPING IT DOWN PLEASE?"

"What?" Stitch heard Pleakley say. Stitch left them to bicker, Lilo couldn't be in her room, and she was probably in the kitchen or in the yard. Not bothering to check, Stitch picked up the controller and played a good long game of Space Hunters 2.

"Stupid Nani." Lilo said, walking down the street. "And Stitch for sleeping right in the middle of our conversation, what was he thinking?" She turned into the beach where the sun was hot and the sand was bone dry. Not many people were there, Lilo felt a bit sad because of that. "Great, I don't even get to take many pictures." Lilo said in disappointment, looking down at her camera. She went down anyway to change into her swimsuit and try to look at some fish. "David always says: 'nothing beats family depression like looking for fish'."

The water was surprisingly cold on her bare feet, after getting in ankle deep, she flopped down hard on the sand. A low mushroom cloud picked up and settled just as fast. She hugged her knees and closed her eyes.

"I wish everything would go well with us." She said to herself. "I wish Stitch wasn't so destructive, Pleakly not so clean, Jumba not so evil, and Nani…" she paused. "What about Nani? She's always attacking Stitch for doing the wrong thing, even when it wasn't him, but if it wasn't him who broke the window? UGH, now I'm making myself confused."

For half an hour she sat, thinking to herself trying to figure out what was wrong with her family. After she left to get changed, she realized all she had done was waste time, she hadn't really come to a conclusion of what to do, or what happened, or who broke the window at all.

"Jumba?" Called Stitch looking through Jumba's door.

"Ah, 626, you have come at just the right moment!"

"Huh?" Stitch came to ask about _Ahcie-baba Kino. _Whatever Jumba wanted he'd have to go along with it. "Right time for what?"

"I have been researching earth diseases, and have found one that could harm you very much. It is known among earthlings as the common cold. I have looked into your DNA and you are not suited to battle this nasty virus, over a course of a few years, it could be eating you alive. A death that would not be fit for your liking eh?" he said with a laugh.

"Naga…miga suzo naga…" Stitch wandered his voice away; he really had no interest in this virus right now. "Iba ju negaba?"

"I have come up with an antidote that is good for 30 days to keep you immune to it. After that you will be needing a new injection. I am still working on a longer lasting formula." Jumba handed stitch a vile of green liquid. Its viscosity was very low, almost like peanut butter.

"Blegh." He stuck his tongue out after drinking it. "Naga chupa."

"I know, tastes very bad, now why did you come to see me?"

"Oh, ah, Stitch has question." He said, the thought emerging from the back of his mind.

"Do not we all?" Jumba shrugged mockingly.

"Angel talks of _Achie-baba Kino_." Stitch said, lowering his voice at the word, as if it were an evil incantation. "Naga nota, ju paroosa igata?"

"Cousin Killer? I have no idea what she is talking about. But whatever it is, sounds very evil genius like!" Jumba exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air. "But really. Am having no idea what she is talking about, are you sure she hasn't gone back to her old self again? Maybe is trying to trick you like before?"

"Naga, boochiboo is good, Stitch knows."

"Then I am to be taking your word for it."

Small shuffling was heard behind the kitchen wall. A tape recorder, with Lilo's voice recorded on it, called out to Pleakley from where the shuffling occurred.

Pleakley was in the kitchen working on another beautiful Pinormus fruitcake, which he thought was very delicate. Hearing Lilo, Pleakley poked his head out the door.

"Yes?" Almost instantly a bag was thrown over his head, "AH!" he cried, and a strong fist knocked him out cold. Out from the shadows came a small creature, bared teeth, sharp talons, and green, satanic eyes. The creature was only two feet tall, with scales covering him head to foot. He hoisted the bag containing Pleakley, and fumblingly walked out through the back door..

Stitch rustled in his sleep once again, he opened his eyes and looked around the room, saw Lilo was still asleep, facing away from him, her covers thrown off from the hot humid night. He grunted with frustration, this was the fifth night in a row he woke up for no apparent reason.

Lilo knew this too; she often woke up an hour or so after him to keep him company. He hadn't told Lilo of his meet with Angel, he didn't know what she would say about that. The last encounter left Lilo angry with Angel, more anger than Stitch could ever muster.

Angel had trapped Lilo inside a capture tube, and had severely beaten her, for what reason they didn't know, but Angel wasn't in her right state of mind at the time. Stitch knew this, but every time he tried to talk about it, Lilo always shut him out. The truth was; Lilo didn't want to accept that Angel was good at heart.

Stitch still lay silent on his mat, but ended up throwing the covers off because of the heat. It was still too hot to stay inside, he opened the window—which was repaired—and stepped outside. The cool moist wind felt good against his bare torso. He stretched out on the hammock, and stared at the stars.

He looked at the constellations to try to name them, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Scorpio, and Angel. _"Angel…"_ Stitch couldn't get her off his mind; he loved her so much. But he was caught still, between Lilo and Her.

Stitch closed his eyes and sang her song as best as he could.

"Acuto chuto, eegata nomata. Naga toe nala, itume taduha." He sighed at the fact that he sung it so horribly. "Dum spiro, sparo Angel." He said, and slowly fell back asleep.

Lilo finally woke up with her hair frayed and spewed everywhere from the mucky night. It was still humid, and she woke with a headache, which wasn't natural for her. She went to her closet full of nicely sewn dresses, all of which looked similar.

She felt sort of gloomy, with a little bit of peacefulness, the dark blue dress would be perfect for today, not too vibrant and not too dull. In a flash she was dressed and on her way to breakfast.

When she got to the kitchen, she saw Jumba at the table. His eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep, and he sat impatiently. But as soon as Lilo entered her snapped back to reality, as if he wasn't there in the first place.

"Little girl, have you seen Pleakly around as of lately?"

"No." said Lilo with a sniff "Ugh, I think I'm catching a cold."

"I figured you were, but I need to know something."

Lilo looked at him very oddly. _"What's up with Jumba?"_ she thought, _"this isn't like him, and usually he's so carefree…"_

"What?" Lilo finally asked.

"Well I have just noticed some strange things that have been happening and I am to be wondering if Pleakly's disappearance has been tied in with all of this."

"Like what? What's been going on?"

"Well…" he started, "It is hard to be explaining, it's just that you and Stitch usually are together but I have not seen you two side by side lately. And Pleakly did not show up at all yesterday and just that morning I was yelling at him for vacuuming. I also must point out that Stitch is feeling very depressed lately."

"Stitch can get depressed?"

"Well, if it is being short term, there is nothing to be worrying about. However if lasting longer then normal, he could be showing signs of aggressive and destructive activity, or it could just be him having to sort through something."

This reminded Lilo of her last encounter with Angel. Her arm and leg still were bruised from Angel hitting her, but what was weird was, Angel said she was sorry before Lilo even saw her.

Stitch was there, of course, in the capture pod right next to her. But after Angel pummeled her, she had screamed "I'm gonna kill you!" But, she was not being seriouse, because she knew Stitch loved Angel horribly, but did Stitch figure she was just mad, or did he think that she _would_ kill Angel?

"Jumba?"

"Yes little girl?"

"Do you think our ohana is breaking?"

"…Honestly, I feel that it is not the family we should be worrying about, but more the conflict within the family. Your sister is not mad at you, but mad at Stitch, Stitch is going through some tough times."

"Uh huh." Said Lilo, sadly. She never wants to see Stitch upset, and this was serious. Stitch was always so relaxed. "So, do you know where Pleakly is?" she asked Jumba to try to keep her thoughts away.

"I have stayed up all night, and have not seen him at all."

"Maybe Houdini turned him invisible?"

"Is possible but not likely, he has been away for the past month, I have only seen 523 in the past three weeks."

"I…" Lilo started "I'm gonna go look for Stitch." She gave Jumba a hug and he laughed a little and pushed her along. She went back to her room to see if he returned, he hadn't. "Ok…" Next she checked out front, under the house where he sometimes went to cool off. Not there either. "I'm gonna need to get Finder." She said dryly.

The soft pounding of Stitch's feet against the grass, and the dirt between his toes made him feel relaxed and refreshed. He was walking back to the clearing to see if Angel was there, but she wasn't.

He'd expected not to find her, and moved on after a short rest. Into the wilderness of Lilo's backyard he went, this was a place where he hardly went before. But for some reason he felt tired of being at the home and that he needed to explore the outdoors.

He climbed the large trees and looked at the birds, then proceeded to the top to scout the sky and the clouds and where to go next. He spotted a large stretch of fallen leaves in a small valley and headed strait for it after touching the ground.

He ran at top speed, and jumped up into the air to do a flip into a small mound. When he landed, half the pile went into the air and fell around him. As he walked through the pile he bumped into something warm and furry.

He expected it to be Angel but it was just a scared bear cub. He sighed heavily and jumped onto his back. The sun was warm and tingled on his sweaty fur. As he lay he sang the song he loved so much.

"Acuto chuto, eegata nomata. Naga toe nala, itume taduha." This time he felt happy while he sang it, his eyes closed and he floated without thought for a moment. Then the song interrupted his clear mind.

He turned his head and saw her. Angel was standing near to Stitch, not two feet away. She came closer to him, shifting all the leaves behind her. As he stood up, she got into his face, and held his hand calmly but nervously. He gripped her hands tight and securely, but she suddenly whipped them free and embraced him tightly.

Stitch gasped at the sudden sign of affection, but didn't question what she did. She did everything as a mystery to him, she seemed to keep her thoughts secret to everyone but Stitch. And even then she didn't tell him her deepest secrets.

"Miga rakuda ju, Stitch." She said behind his ear, and tightened the embracement. Stitch's face turned red, slightly from shyness, slightly from the lack of oxygen, but mostly because he was embracing his one true love.

"Stitch loves Angel too." He said back to her, and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Stitch never let go." He said, hearing her unspoken words. Silently she cried on his shoulder, not sobbing but letting the tears roll down from her eyes. She was glad Stitch couldn't see her face, she felt ashamed at what was going to happen.

After long seconds and short minutes, Angel stopped crying. She loosened her embracement and gave Stitch a small kiss on the cheek as she let up. Angel backed away, at first slowly.

"Chaka vide, ok?" She said almost tripping over her feet. "Trabi cherupoma, akatta Gantu. Gantue hourab balve."

"Stitch understand, miga toopoe, Stitch tell, don't worry…" He mustered up the courage to ask her the question _"What about Lilo?"_ But before he could, she took off in a sprint, and only left strands of pink fur on Stitch's shoulder.

"Well I would have to say that she was a complete success, given the fact that there were many stakes upon her."

"Yes, she did quite well in luring the trog before, she may have done it again this time."

"If you ask me, (munch) you shouldn't trust her so much. (munch) Just let _him_ do the work, we don't need her anymore."

"We don't need _you_ anymore either, you sandwich-eating good-for-nothing."

"Quiet! You two will keep her cooperating with us, she will do what we say, after all her life is on the line because of _my_ evil genius experiment. 626 will not escape the likes of _him_, we already have one of their household members now."

"But Pleakly was easy to capture, all he does is clean house!"

"Pleakly was just a warm up you guppy! Now we will see how he fares against my partner, although with his intelligence, Jumba may see it coming. But, none the less, send him loose. We may get lucky."

"Yes, perhaps he'll break more windows…"


	3. Mission

Lullaby

C/By: Kenjaje

Edited/Revised by: raVen

Chapter 3: Mission

The window creaked shut, as Stitch's right foot slowly set down on the wood floor of Lilo's room. The smell of pancakes, was absent on this Monday morning, Stitch was not very happy about that. It meant he would have to get his own breakfast, and Nani was already mad about him eating the house dry.

He opened the bedroom door, and perked his ears up as his head stuck out. He peered down the hallway, and when he saw no one was around he bolted outside, tapping his nails against the carpet. He came up to the stairs, and slowly listened for anyone in the kitchen.

He didn't hear anyone down there, but he did hear Jumba's computer, clicking away as he did his research. Stitch remembered, he wanted to talk with Jumba the night before; he stopped in his tracks and turned around, walking to Jumba's room.

"Who is it?" Jumba asked to the knock on the door.

"Miga." Replied Stitch, awaiting recognition.

"Come in, it's unlocked." The door clicked as Stitch came in and shut it. "How are you feeling today? Any better?" Jumba asked as Stitch went to sit on the bed. "Any…worse?"

"Eh, worse." Stitch said, trying to give a vague answer. "Stitch bored, nothing happened since last experiment." Jumba turned in his chair, to look at Stitch kindly.

"I don't think _bored_ would be the right word, my friend, and I know you know what I mean. I am telling you, talk to little girl, she will understand, trust me." Jumba said winking, for he had talked with Lilo before, and he knew that now she understood somewhat of Stitch's concern.

"Naga pud." Stitch said, laying back.

"What do you mean you can't? It is just as easy as walking down the street during the day. What are you so worried about that your not telling me?"

"Miga scared." He said, curling up into a small ball.

"Bah, come out of there and tell me, what are you so scared _about_?" Jumba walked over to the bed, and sat next to Stitch, who took the form of a quivering rollie-pollie

"Miga cribe weguro tiriscla lagam Lilo." He said fast and lowly.

"You know better then that," Jumba exclaimed hitting Stitch's curled up body, "don't be so scared of other's feelings toward certain issues, I am sure little girl will not get upset…" Stitch stopped shaking, and uncurled.

"Stitch needs to think…" He said, leaving Jumba's room. He walked across the hall, and once again listened for anyone to be in the kitchen. From where he was he could hear nothing, and again he darted toward the edge of the stairs.

Stitch took his time in stepping down; he liked the way the steps squeaked under his feet at different pitches. As he neared the middle of the stairs, the door slamming shut interrupted his happy squeaks.

He paused and cringed his body, and peered at the front door. His ears rung as he saw Lilo, looking straight at him with a happy grin. She said nothing, though, and for a moment Stitch was paused at the stairs, not being able to think right. He couldn't think why Lilo would scare him so much, she seemed happy, she seemed fine, not mad at all; but still, he was afraid to confront her for an unknown reason-or a reason he did not want to reveal to himself, a reason that he wanted to keep locked away in his own mind.

Stitch's leg twitched, and threw him off balance, he tripped over a few stairs, and tried to regain his composer by catching himself and running as fast as he could down the rest of the ramp, into the kitchen.

"Are you hungry Stitch?" Lilo asked, walking into the Kitchen. He had opened several pantries and cabinets, but despite the scenery he looked back in his usual grin.

"Naga nota…" he said, "I'm just looking to see if I want something." Lilo walked to the kitchen table, and picked up a plate to put it into the sink. She walked over to Stitch to give him a hug, which he took hesitantly. It reminded him, of how Angel had just embraced him not an hour ago, and he wished that Lilo had not hugged him, not yet. It seemed much longer then it actually was, to Stitch.

"I can make you something," said Lilo, walking over to the noodle cabinet, "you want some Ravioli?"

"Ecuchaba." Stitch said, grabbing another can of food, for him. She opened the cans, while he opened the microwave and got out two bowls and two spoons. Stitch liked it like this, they weren't talking about Angel, about Gantu, not any of that, it was just a friendly meeting of the two while making Ravioli, on a warm, humid day.

Stitch's ears relaxed a bit, and his stride was a bit more fluent, they passed each other a few times, Stitch getting glasses, milk, napkins, and placemats; Lilo getting a glass pot, mixing spoon, salt, pepper, and olives (They liked their Ravioli with olives occasionally).

They had worked so fast and diligently, that after Lilo had punched in the time, they had nothing to do but to sit and talk. Stitch, trying to be a gentleman, pulled out Lilo's chair for her to sit. She thanked him in a proper way-jokingly of course-and sat primly in the chair. Stitch, pulling his own chair out, sat down and tried to act the same, but it was hard for him to keep a straight face. They both started wincing, and eventually broke into hysteria at the whole matter.

"Hey," Lilo said, catching Stitch's attention, "where were you this morning, I spent all this time looking for you." He lowered his head, thinking of what to say. He didn't want to tell her about Angel, and now he was back in a panic.

"Out back, exploring." He said, trying to be as truthful as possible without telling her about Angel. Lilo smiled somewhat naïvely and looked quickly at the time on the microwave, it read 3:44 until it would be done. She looked back, casually, not trying to look menacing, she wanted a truthful answer from Stitch after she asked this question:

"Did you meet Angel?" Stitch shifted, quickly, he felt more caught then surprised. He was hoping he could weasel his way out of telling Lilo what had just occurred that morning.

"Iba ju chabba?" He asked, with more nervousness in his voice then he wanted. He looked at her straight in the eyes; hers were calm and somewhat bright.

"I saw her, running away, at least I think it was her." She knew it was Angel, and she wanted Stitch to tell her what had happened; she wasn't mad at Stitch, she would never get mad at him, but she was mad at Angel, and wanted to know what she was up to.

"Abad? Egoolada?" Stitch said, trying to sound innocent to the matter.

"She was running away from the woods, in the back yard. Where you said you were." Lilo said, trying to sound like she was just piecing some of the puzzle together right then, so as not to sound too prepared. Stitch's ears picked up, but he stopped them midway, and they began to twitch.

"Stitch did not see her…" He said, shrugging and looking away at the microwave clock, only 33 seconds left. He stalled looking at the clock, pretending not to be able to see numbers clearly.

"Then," Lilo began, now revealing what she knew all along, "what are those strands of pink fur on your shoulder from?" sheer panic swept through Stitch's body, quickly he checked his shoulder, trying to make it seem like he wasn't look, and like he didn't even hear her in the first place; sure enough there was a very visible strand of pink fur, caught on his shoulder.

His heart pounded more heavily, his chest heaved in and out rapidly as he tried to hide his panic. He could feel his arms sweating of nervousness, and the overall feeling of being caught in the act was hard to take at a time like this. The microwave beeped, and Stitch tried, casually, to go get the Ravioli.

"No," Lilo said, very sweetly, and yet very seriously, "let it cool. Sit down." Slowly, he got back in the chair, he could feel the blood pumping through his neck, and his throat was knotting up with fear; Lilo was most likely going to explode with rage in front of him, or so he thought. "Stitch, why have you been hiding and avoiding me late-"

A loud crash sounded upstairs that made the two-and Stitch even more-jump in shock; another loud noise followed by an opening slam, Jumba screamed from up in his room, and it was stopped abruptly. Finally another glass breaking noise, and then silence.

Stitch was breathing hard, problems had just gotten worse. They both ran upstairs to see what had happened, Lilo's bedroom window was now shattered again, and the door was ripped off of it's hinges; in Jumba's room, the door handle had broken through the wall, and the window was all but gone.

"Miga soka…" Stitch said to Lilo, hoping that this would be a good time to apologize as to what she was going to say before.

"It's ok, I'm not mad at you, c'mon, let's go." She said, "Let's get Slushy and go to Gantu's ship." She grabbed his hand, softly, and carried him. They hopped into the car, and Stitch drove as fast as he could down to get Slushy. Lilo sneezed in the car, and began to get a very bad headache…

"We have Jumba, sir."

"Excellent, did you put him with my experiment, like I asked?"

"Yes, but, 625 is a little mad about what we're going to do to Angel."

"He'd better not tell her, it would ruin the trap, if she knew what was going to happen to her, she'd escape from us, and this whole plan would be ruined."

"What do we do then?"

"Don't worry, should we have to, we'll just let _him_ take care of all three experiments…"

"Naga!"

"What? Where did she come from?"

"I don't know!"

"Grab her before she gets away! We need her!"


	4. Experiment

Lullaby

C/By: Kenjaje

Edited/Revised by: raVen

­­­

Chapter 4: Experiment

"Are you sure it's Gantu, Stitch?" Lilo asked, sniffing horribly, her headache was now thumping in her temples; she feared she was getting sicker then before.

"Eh. Naga sobudga, let's get Slushy." This is what Angel was talking about. _"Attack Gantu, he will be waiting."_ But now he wondered, before she ran off, did she know something about Gantu's plans in advance? Was he being lead into a trap?

"Turn left! Turn left!" Lilo cried to Stitch, his concentration back on the road, he had almost missed the turn-in to Slushy's place. It wasn't long before they parked their car in front of the Shave Ice store, and went inside.

"Gutcha." Said Slushy, bowing to Lilo and Stitch, "Chakuda miga oetra?"

"bara, Slushy, igas naga majibu. Clatamo juba sertoba, akatta Gantu."

"Eh." Slushy said, and dropped his cap to leave. "Cereso trapitoc mandabu?" He asked Stitch.

"Metulaba on the way." He responded, as Lilo sneezed again.

The black van pulled up to the blue house atop the hill. The bald man in black, tightened his tie, shifted his glasses, and cracked his knuckles. He walked slowly up the stairs to the front door of the home; taking time somewhat to survey the bounty of the yard, as he quietly stepped up and knocked on the door.

When no one answered, he had no choice but to open the door, and step inside unannounced. He glanced over the vestibule of the home; perfectly normal. He took a few steps in, and heard soft crying coming from the kitchen.

"Nani?" He said, in a deep bellowing voice, entering the kitchen. Nani looked up at the unsuspected, and rather unnecessary guest.

"Bubbles!" She cried in relief, formality, and embarrassment at the same time. She always felt horribly indecent if she was found crying over the table while a guest came in. "What are you doing here, at a time like this?"

"There have been numerous reports of land destruction caused by an unknown source. I have convinced my division that it is one of Stitch's cousins, and so they sent me here to investigate. May I speak with them?" he said referring to Lilo and Stitch.

Nani began to get teary eyed again, Bubbles knew something was wrong; he sat down at the kitchen table adjacent to her, and looked at her in the eyes.

"Where are they?" He asked, in both fear and impatience.

"I don't know," Nani said panicking, "There are holes in the walls upstairs, Jumba and Pleakly are missing, and Lilo and Stitch are-"

"No one was here when you got home?" He interrupted.

"No, I came home to this." She motioned upstairs, and Bubbles slowly stepped up glancing toward the stairs. He couldn't spot anything wrong from where he was; he went quietly up the stairs to see. He spent ten minutes examining the massacre of the second story hall; taking pictures, making notes, asking Nani questions. "Do you know who would have done this?"

"I don't know…uh…Gantu?" she said questionably, although she thought she was right. Bubbles closed his notepad, and put his camera away. He motioned for Nani to follow him.

"Lilo is with Stitch, I cannot afford to have her in any danger, do you know where Gantu is?" They stepped outside; he let her out first, bowing.

"No, from what Lilo told me, he's at a different location on some mountain." They walked to the car, and opened the doors.

"Then we'll find it." Bubbles said, determinately.

"I…I think I'm going to wait in the car…" Said Lilo, hazily to the two experiments.

"Something wrong with Lilo?" Stitch asked, quickly coming to her side of the car and peering in the window, to check for anything wrong with Lilo. "Wounds bothering Lilo again?"

"No!" she said fast, and in effort to stop Stitch, which was a bit too late. "I mean, no, I'm just exhausted…that's all." She turned away from Stitch and pretended to fiddle with something in between the seats.

"Eh," he said, "I understand, you can come if you feel up to it." She looked back, smiled, and locked the door. Instantly, she could feel the humidity of the hot day circulating within the vehicle, making it seem more smoldering every second.

"There they are!" Said Hamsterveil deviously, "They are falling into my hands, is Angel with _him_?"

"Yes, Hamsterveil, I'll tell 625 to open the door when you wish." Gantu said, motioning to his referred standing at the door; 625 glared like a lion at Hamsterveil. He hated how Hamsterveil was playing he, Angel-and Stitch for that matter-as a side element to help his own experiment gain power.

"Would you be so kind as to do what I wish, 625?" Hamsterveil asked in a demanding way, 625 growled deeply. "Or shall I have _you_ be punished as well?" Hamsterveil said in response to the threatening gesture. 625 pushed the button and opened the door, knowing only to sick that horrible monster unto Angel.

"Torupot?" Asked Slushy, as they made their way through the pipes of the ship; Slushy, blowing on thermal detection wires to freeze them and help their stealth, while Stitch guided Slushy through the ducts that he knew so well.

"Not far ahead," said Stitch, "only a few more minutes."

"Bombi naga crouga primadoc?"

"Because, Angel said Gantu knew Stitch was coming, go through front door just cause ambush." He replied, taking off a metal grate, then jumped down. "Beyond that door, Gantu will be there." He pointed to the metal mass blocking the way. They went on either side of the door where they couldn't be seen when it would open, and Stitch prepared to push the button, and take ambush on Gantu.

Lilo couldn't take it anymore, her head hurt far too much, and she was beginning to feel drowsy. She had spent ten minutes in the oven-hot car, and was beginning to feel claustrophobic and suffocated. She opened the door and fell out of the car in a surprisingly sweaty heap.

The fall was rather hard and quick, and if anything made her head hurt worse then ever; outside the car it was hotter, the sweat over her seemed to isolate the heat more. Her moo-moo stuck to her back and stomach because the perspiration drenched her so much all over, even her hair stuck to back. The top of her head, felt matted and heavy, like it was slightly damp with rainwater, and a bit heavier as well, but it wasn't even the slightest bit moist.

"Stitch…" she said dully, as she got to her feet; she could barely keep her balance standing, let alone walking, as she made her way to the front door of the ship. She jumped up, and pulled down on the latch that opened the door, this was also a bad idea for her; her head felt pain that moved around her cerebrum like liquid, as her feet clopped onto the loading dock under the ship.

She sighed in an agonizing way, as the pain gave her a sudden dizziness as well. She could barely make out what she was looking at, her eyes were blurred and her vision faded on and off, she almost felt herself sleep walking, but knew she couldn't be; she wanted to sleep but her head hurt too horribly to keep her eyes closed for a second or two while walking.

Casually slumping straight into the belly of the beast, she was met with Gantu and Hampsterveil-in person-but did not care at all. Her body quivered terribly at a sudden coldness she felt all around her, especially around the matted dampened area of her head, and her breath becoming rasp as she clutched her stomach and fell to the floor.

"Stitch, help me." She cried, her voice convulsing as well.

"Get her Gantu! Take her to the experiment!" Yelled Hamsterveil. Gantu, at full speed, within two steps grabbed Lilo-making her head hurt worse yet again-and carried her through the doorway, just as Stitch opened his door, perpendicular to Gantu.

"Lilo!" he cried, just hearing the conversation, "Slushy, come on!" He pleaded, and grabbed Slushy by the scruff to pull him along. They were about to enter the door, when Hamsterveil pushed a button on the console.

"Ship lockdown in five…four…three…two…one…boop" went an automated voice, Hamsterveil laughed as a machine took his body and floated him through a hole just above the door, which shut behind him.

"Follow me if you can!" He screamed through the metal on his way down. Stitch tensed his muscles and rammed his fists into the door; bits of fur flew off of his knuckles as he pounded the metal. He started to get angry, he couldn't break through the door, not even after Slushy froze a part of it; the metal was just too tough.

"Miga naga podi…" he said in defeat, sitting on the ground. He lay for only a few seconds, for he heard a noise, a loud and high-pitched scream, which brought him to his feet and his palms against the door. "Oh no, Angel!" He cried, he could recognize that cry anywhere, but this was horrible, it sounded as though Angel was in pain.

"Slushy, help!" He begged in desperation, pounding his fists into the metal door again. Slushy tried as best he could at freezing the thick metal, and every second that passed Stitch could hear Angels screams-along with Pleakly's, and Jumba's-seemingly ascending louder and more painful every time.

In his own scream-a scream of rage-he bore his head through the door, and tore the metal apart with inhuman strength. His head stung deeply, but he shook the pain and looked ahead. There, another door was before him, but he was too ferociously angry to let it get in the way; in another scream of rage, and another head butt, the door gave way quickly to, to unveil a horrible scene behind it.

Stitch halted in subtle surprise and fear, as he saw before him the back of a giant barbaric creature; standing at fifteen feet tall, sharp quills on his back, red and black leathery scales covered it's body; its arms were small-yet precise-and underneath them, a small wing was folded in the rift between its arm and side; sharp talons mounted on its tail, as well as the back of its elbow and short, hunched feet.

Jumba and Pleakly, whom were in capture cells that were ringed across the outer layers of the room, screamed toward Stitch. The monster turned its head toward Stitch, revealing its slanted green eyes; its pupils narrowed into slits as it gazed at Stitch.

Inundating through Stitch's veins, was the fear toward amplitude of this creature's immense power; the anger was sapped from Stitch and replaced by the sudden shock of an impossibly strong foe.

"You like my pet, no?" Entered Hamsterviel, from the door behind, along with Gantu holding Lilo, and 625 with a bandage around his arm. "I created him solely to kill you and your cousins." Hamsterveil boasted with excitement.

"Go help Jumba and Pleakly." Stitch told Slushy, silently, not caring about what the rodent said, "Where's Angel!" He demanded at Hamsterveil.

"Are you sure you want to see her?" Hamsterveil snarled. Stitch leered at him, and nodded at him with a threatening growl. "Fine then. Akibaba Kino, show 626 where Angel is." The dragonish creature that stood before Stitch, still gazing at him emptily, turned his mass around to reveal a pink and red bundle within its claws. "May I introduce to you," Hamsterveil started again enthusiastically, "my ingenious creation, an experiment I call 'Akibaba Kino'." He stated with a bow.

"Here," asked Gantu, to Hamsterveil, pointing at Lilo, "would you mind if I feed it another snack?"

"But of course, although I feel we are spoiling him." He replied laughing menacingly. "Toss her in. Akibaba Kino needs an opponent who is utterly enraged, and torturing 626's family will ensure the best rage from him we could possibly get." He sneered at Stitch.

"Lilo!" Stitch cried, as Gantu tossed her onto the ground. For a second he surveyed what was going on, Slushy had just broken Pleakly's cell, and Jumba was already free, running to pick up Lilo. Achie-baba Kino let out a deep throated, blood-curdling, roar, and turned at Jumba as he ran off with the Lilo; Angel woke in the creature's clenched hands, and screamed in pain. "Angel!" Stitch cried in the same way as before with Lilo.

"626, save Angel, that monster is going to _kill_ her if you don't hurry!" Jumba shouted to Stitch, whom was already on his way up to attack the Cousin Killer. The slick hide of the dragonish monster provided no traction for Stitch's feet, Achie-baba Kino took one fist and hurled Stitch off its leg with a light jab. Stitch was helped up by Slushy, who immediately had to jump out of the way as a giant tail slammed with a force that was familiarly earth shattering.

The two able combatants did not linger over the similarity however, they quickly made action as a team to help get up; Slushy froze the ground before Stitch as he ran at full sped, finally jumping at an upward ramp Slushy formed. Achie-baba Kino roared another siren, with such intensity Stitch was hurled through the air, and slammed abruptly on the adjacent wall, knocking the wind out of him.

Slushy covered Stitch with icicles and ice bullets to fend Achie-baba Kino away as Stitch recovered from the blow; the tactic was barely working to begin with. Stitch took long to recover; Achie-baba Kino quickly broke through Slushy's siege, and managed to crush Stitch with his wide foot.

Stitch's bare knuckles reeked with pain as he tried to push himself up, as fast as he could he switched to his palms to better concentrate on the three thousand ton limb about merge him with the cold metal floor. He could slowly feel the breath returning to his eager lungs, the warm air rejuvenated him, as his arms now quivered to resist the force of Achie-baba Kino's leg.

The dragon shifted his weight to his other foot, to get another forceful stomp onto Stitch, which backfired as soon as he did; Stitch took the shifting weight to his advantage and managed to thrust the dragon off of him. Achie-baba Kino merely stumbled a few steps, and looked back at Stitch's quivering body.

As Stitch panted, he looked into the dragon's claws to see if Angel was all right, she shook; he could just barely make out her deep, dark, violet eyes, staring at him in agony and pessimism.

He was horrified as the dragon loosened his hands to reveal Angel, laying twisted in it's palms. She had gashes on her cheeks and around her eyes, slow and thick streams of blood meandered down from her torso. She painfully turned to completely face he, her lover, and in a languid voice that lacked air, she barely managed to plead:

"Pasha…miga…" _"Help…me…"_


	5. Fever And Rage

Lullaby

C/By: Kenjaje

Edited/Revised by: raVen

Chapter 5: Fever and Rage

"A few weeks ago, Lilo said something about Gantu's ship landing on a mountain that was farther up north, I can't remember its name, though." Nani shivered, she was always afraid when her little sister ran off out into the world, capturing another experiment or going to retrieve one.

"It doesn't matter, I've heard a report about it, and I think I might be able to find it." Bubbles replied in the usual factualist tone that he carried with him. This bothered Nani a little, she knew he trying to keep calm, but doing that in a situation like this-to her-was impossible.

"How long do you think it will take, to get there?" She asked, looking ahead in the road. It lead up and around a large lake, taking them into a brush covered territory. She was in an oblivious state, not knowing what Bubbles had in mind, not knowing where Lilo was, not knowing of anything.

"To be honest I'm not sure, just sit back and enjoy the ride; Lilo is fine you don't have to worry, she has Stitch with her." Nani was brought up by this point, though she was never around to see it, Stitch apparently had always managed to save everyone in the end. Still, however, she doubted him all the time; a sharp feeling entered her, she could feel Lilo suffering.

"Jumba?" the small bundle in Jumba's arms weakly called out to him, he had been blocking the vicious scene from Lilo since he managed to catch her. "Jumba?" it asked again.

"Yes, Lilo?" He asked back, his voice trying not to reveal the amount of worriment he felt over the situation, Lilo was sick and stressed, he did not want to add to her pain. "What is it?" He looked down, at Lilo, allowing his face to lie to her, to say that everything was fine, hoping she would not see right through the expression.

"What's going on?" She asked in a way, that made Jumba not want to tell the truth; she asked so innocently, so pure, that he couldn't taint her with worry and grief over the fact that Stitch was faced against a wall that he could not break down. "Is Stitch ok?" His mouth was now ajar, she was ill, and feverous, and she wanted to know how _Stitch_ was fairing, but still he could not tell her, not until Stitch was winning.

"Don't be worrying little girl, Stitch is…doing fine, he can handle himself. Pretty soon, we'll take care of you, just as soon as we can leave." After his words, Lilo shifted her head, and stared directly into Jumba's eyes. Known to Jumba, Lilo was a master at telling the truth from the lies, merely by looking into your eyes. He tried to look away, to stare at something other then Lilo, hoping that she could not read the truth.

"He's losing…isn't he?" Jumba looked down at her, in shame; he knew she didn't like it when people tried to lie, and hide sadness from her. In a way, when she said those words, he felt her scowling at him, even though she would never scowl at anyone, unless she truly hated them.

"At the moment, yes." He replied, realizing that he had lost from the battle. "And I am not sure what to do, I have never seen anything like this before." Jumba breathed in heavily, thinking hard for a plan.

"Isn't there anything you can do, Jumba?" She asked him, hoping that he had thought of something by now. His fore-eyes looked down at her, while the other two looked up at Akibaba Kino. The dragon, was now taunting Stitch, making him angry, making him lose his focus. "Think, Jumba, please." He heard her beg again. To her plea, inspiration came, and an idea hit, one that may help.

"Tell me Doctor Hamsterveil," Jumba shouted deeply, in a serious tone, turning to his villainous partner, "what exactly is this ingenious creation?" Hamsterviel, in his little pod, floated over to Jumba, knocking pleakley--who was not very conscious to begin with--out of the way.

"What are you, blind?" he sneered at Jumba, he knew Jumba was merely trying to find a flaw in his creation, but the fact was, this creation was flawless; Akibaba Kino could not be defeated. "Do you not see the truest and ultimate form, of your own 626?"

"What are you talking about?" Snared Jumba, Hamsterveil was speaking in riddles.

"I have done what you have failed at." He smiled boastingly at Jumba.

"And just what would _that_ be?" Jumba asked, trying to uncover the secrets.

"Achie-baba Kino is your 626 without the flaw of destruction; this version craves to torture." Jumba understood what he meant; he thought he had created a perfect 626, a copy that lacked the desire for destruction, and gained the desire to torture. That is why he was taunting Stitch with Angel's pain.

"Tell me, why do you say he _is_ 626, when he is obviously bigger, and completely the opposite looking?" Jumba hoped his thoughts were correct, and if they were all he'd have to do was think of Stitch's other flaws.

"Take the deoxyribonucleic acid of 626, and modify the support of size and shape, allowing him to be stronger and better then the previously built." Akibaba Kino, was the essence of Stitch, he _was_ Stitch, except more massive, stronger and better then Stitch himself.

Stitch cried in pain, as he was flung across the room, right past Hamsterveil's pod, which he receded from the action over to the safe side of the room, near Gantu and 625. Stitch grunted on the floor, his fur rustled everywhere.

"626, are you alright?" Jumba hurried over the Stitch, as Stitch regained his surroundings. He looked at Jumba, and nodded, as his head slumped back to relax for a second; out of his right eye, Stitch could see Lilo, staring at him; out of worry and out of tiredness. Stitch squinted his eyes, and got to his feet. He knew he had to end the fight quickly, Lilo was sick, deathly sick, and all this excitement was making it worse.

He stood in front of the dragon, as it held Angel in its hands still. All this time, Stitch had attempted and failed again and again to get up to its arms and pry Angel from its grasp. He was now getting tired, pushing past his limits. The back of his neck was stiff and throbbing, his knuckles were scraped and scabbed all over. His fatigue took its toll on him, and caused him to droop.

Slushy, was as badly hurt or worse, as Stitch. He was more of a pile of broken ice cubes, shattered in bits and peaces across the floor, then he was a whole experiment; Stitch silently thanked him for his help anyway. Stitch now feared that he might not be able to get out of this one, that he couldn't stop Akibaba Kino.

Slushy dashed quickly and silently up toward Akibaba Kino, breaking Stitch's tension and daze. This time, with a new approach, Slushy formed the large hammer he used to fight against 'Splody-head when they first met him; this one being ten times larger, it crashed down just too slow and to the left to hit the target.

Achie-baba Kino took his tail and smashed it down with the force of Richter once again, and sent Slushy flying through the air. Stitch ran out and up the wall, barely getting traction on the smooth surface, jumped off and almost missed catching his friend. Slushy was getting angry now, Stitch could tell.

"Watagoval, miga akatta jaga." Slushy said, as he pushed Stitch to the wall, imploring him to back down and save his energy. Slushy planned to make a diversion for as long as he could, until Stitch or Jumba came up with a plan to stop Akibaba Kino. He ran around catching the dragon's eyes, and threw two icicle knives toward its head.

Achie-baba Kino lifted his hands, and stopped the bullets from hitting his face, while Slushy ran behind to its tail, and latched himself onto the talons at the tail's tip. The dragon smashed down on the ground, causing Jumba to fall over, but Slushy didn't let go; he stayed biting to Achie-baba Kino's tail, trying his best not to let go.

Hollering in frustration, Akibaba Kino swiped at Slushy, shattering him once again into tiny pieces of ice, but his head was left latched onto the tail. Slushy reformed once again, knowing that he was annoying the dragon and was satisfied where he was, even if Achie-baba Kino shattered him three or four more times. It was only when his head was pried by the dragon's claws did he let go.

He was tossed onto the wall, but predicted the action and rebounded off of it on a glacial trail in mid air. He jumped up, far above the dragon's head, and stopped. On his tiny slide of ice, he stood on one foot, and spun around, spewing his breath everywhere, creating a mist of sleet and glaze.

Lilo shivered in Jumba's arms at the sudden coldness, and moaned with discomfort, which moved into small, low grunts of pain. He closed his arms tighter to keep her warmer, feeling like a mother, and grabbed pleakly to wake him up as well. Pleakly ran behind Jumba, behind the capture pods, and hid himself behind a shield of cold glass.

Achie-baba Kino stared at the cascading sleet around him, and up at the spinning ice machine that was causing this abrupt hypothermic atmosphere. His nostrils flared, violent steam erupting from them; he was getting annoyed at this little man making the room so chilly.

Slushy was getting exhausted at the amount of energy it took to make such permafrost, and it was nowhere near done, he didn't think he had it in him to freeze this gigantic creature. But still, his determination outweighed his reason, and he continued to spin like a delicate ballerina on top of his glacial perch.

The mist around Akibaba Kino started hardening, he could feel his lungs lacking air, he breathed in harder and found it difficult to even draw in a full breath of air. The back of his nasal passages stung as the cold sharp air entered his nose. He was angered and this has been going on for far too long.

Slushy lost his balance, as Akibaba Kino sent a horde of decibels straight up in his direction; the roar threw him off into an uncoordinated spiral to the ground. The glaze that floated in the air shattered, the frozen mist fell to the ground in as many ice chunks as Slushy himself was broken in to.

The panicked gasping that came from Slushy as he reformed was all Stitch needed to be fueled to fight again; he was now despising himself for allowing Slushy to do what he wanted. The dragon proceeded to smash Slushy under his foot once again, as Stitch made his way over to the fray. Reforming in tears of pain, Slushy was relieved to see the blurry figure of Stitch looming over his frigid body. Stitch held out his hand and helped Slushy to his feet.

"Chadaba miga solistice, then go to Jumaba." He told Slushy, in the sternest tone Slushy had ever heard, he obeyed and formed three icicles from his breath, and gave them to Stitch, and then proceeded over to Jumba.

Stitch took the three new weapons in his hands, and bolted toward Akibaba Kino with speeds never matched before; stabbing two of them, both in each knee of the dragon, in one bound and landing just under the monsters tail, which he took the third icicle and attempted to scratch the tender underbelly.

Before he could, Akibaba Kino jumped into the air-the icicles in his knees merely fell out with no trouble at all-and landed. Stitch had already moved out of the way, and was leaning into a dash as the dragon saw him. Stitch threw the last icicle he had at the dragon's left eye.

Achie-baba Kino dodged his head to the left, and lifted the unconscious Angel to the dagger, and allowed the icicle to cut right across her shoulder. Angel screamed in terror at the pain, as the icicle fell to the ground, with the tip covered in blood.

Stitch froze in shock at the life-ending scream, fearing the worst of what he had done to Angel, she stared back at him, deeply, sadly, and forgivingly. A small rage sparked in Stitch's heart, which Akibaba Kino growled in delight as he recognized it.

The dragon gave a satanic grin, as he delicately moved Angel into the palm of his hand. Stitch was convulsing too horribly to move, as he saw Akibaba Kino's mad torture to Angel. In his claws, he held her, slowly letting her pain secede. Then, evilly delicate, he clenched his palm together, Angel gasped at the tension, until he nearly crushed her in his palm, making her give off another life-ending shriek of fear.

Stitch's heart felt like it had just stopped as the dragon tossed the pink and red mass to the other wall, with sonic speed he ran toward her, and missed the catch because of his blurred vision. She hit the wall, just short of his reach, and landed onto the ground.

"Jumba!" cried Lilo, in a scared trembling voice, "Jumba, I think I'm going to hurl!" Snapped from the attention of Angel's beating, he looked at Lilo. A thought crossed his mind, Lilo was sick, sick with something that could kill Stitch, she was about to eject some of those bacteria; he saw a plan with which a chance he could not miss.

"Be holding your bodily projectiles for a few more moments please little girl." Jumba told her in a droned tone as he walked to Stitch stepping over the sharp ice. "626-" Stitch growled low, and looked at Jumba. "Stitch," Jumba said sternly, "do not look at me like that, if anything I know how to stop that creature." Stitch's eyes widened, he had just seen his love tortured and beaten, and Jumba has found a way to stop Akibaba Kino _now_?

"What?" he said, in a ravish tone.

"Agda buchames Lilo tagramei maritametaga, shadimo agrucaba."

"…Eh." Stitch confirmed after a second's thought; Jumba's plan was slightly vague and sounded more like a theory, but at this point Stitch would do anything to avenge Angel's death.

As ordered by Jumba, he took Lilo into his arms. She looked at him, and smiled. In Stitch's heart, the place that was destroyed by Angel was now replaced by Lilo; Stitch felt rejuvenated, as he carried Lilo up to the dragon. Despite Lilo being so large in his arms, he managed to kick the monster in the toe.

Lazily, Achie-baba Kino grabbed them both in his talons, and lifted them up to his face. Lilo suddenly felt her spine tremble, as the monster opened its mouth and roared. She felt her stomach heave forward, her jaw quivered densely as she hurled straight into the dragon's gaping mouth.

Achie-baba Kino choked on the vomit, as it forcibly went down to his stomach. The taste was eye watering to him, and for that he would make the girl suffer. Prying Stitch off of Lilo, he threw the little blue monster over near Pleakly, breaking one of the cells.

He woke to Lilo's screams, as she was vigorously being shaken and slightly cut by Achie-baba Kino. The liquid pain in her head now surged, as she saw the blurry images and felt the sharp pain; she could feel what was going on around her, but couldn't react to it as well as she wanted to.

She saw Stitch running toward the beast that held her and lost track of him as he went under her peripheral vision, some seconds later, her head felt a lurch of pain as she was dropped to hit the ground. Her head lurched again, as Stitch caught her, and ran off with her toward Jumba.

"Stitch…" she said low, and groggily into his ear. He slowed his pace a small bit. "I-" she began to say something, as the ground underneath them split with the force of Akibaba Kino's tail, tripping Stitch and tossing Lilo forward.

"Lilo! Lilo!" Jumba shouted, as he ran to the limp girl, her arms draped over her body, and her top leg bent a little so her foot touched the wall. Jumba felt her neck slowly; Stitch looked up, and was launched into sudden fear, fear of losing two people that were close to him. "She has a pulse," Jumba said to Stitch, "its low, I don't know her condition…" Jumba gathered Lilo in his arms, and bolted for the hole in the door, before he could reach it, Akibaba Kino stepped into the way; the dragon would not let him pass.

Jumba backed away to save himself and Lilo, as Stitch ran forward toward Achie-baba Kino, the dragon kicked Stitch back, making him roll a distance, as Jumba ran to the back of the room, over to where Slushy was.

Lilo woke to Slushy hugging her, keeping her body cool, her neck felt heavy as did her head, but Slushy's cold body was soothing the pain. She woke just after Jumba had given her to Slushy, and they hid behind a glass cell.

She stared in dull vision, at the surrounding scenery; they were at a side view of Stitch and Akibaba Kino. She opened her eyes wider, to catch more light, to see Stitch rising in a tense manner. After he got to his feet, Stitch was the clearest thing she could see, he did not swerve, he did not shake, he did not appear to be two in her vision; she could see him as clearly as normally. She could also feel what he felt, she shared his thoughts and emotions.

She felt the anger in Stitch, as to how Akibaba Kino was treating him, the pain that he felt merely by seeing Angel and her being tortured mercilessly by the dragon. She could feel the loath that enveloped him, as he quavered in its presence. She could tell, that he was using his sadness, his grief, his fear, and his sorrow over Angel and her, to fuel his despise and rage.

She was terrified at him, even though she knew she didn't have to be. She knew, that he was justified, she knew that he despised Akibaba Kino _for_ her; she knew that he despised the dragon _for _Angel, she knew that he was directing the edifice of rage inside of him toward Akibaba Kino _for their cause_; still she was horrified. Not at this new Stitch, not at the hatred and rage the emanated around him, enveloping him, but terrified at the fact that she could lose the Stitch that she knew, and loved.

Stitch's body, which was convulsing and shivering out of pure hatred and rage, now snapped; his ears shot straight up with tension, then relaxed; his hidden arms burst out of his body, flexing with strenuous pain, then released and became limp; his breathing which was rasp and hard, for a moment spurred into a fast and heavy heave, now was bright to a calm and deep hold. He was at the apex of his fury, the mysterious climax where one is so angered; one is focused and malignantly aware of one's swift and precise abilities.

Stitch's shoulders slouched, his balled fists now released, and his lips smiled. Lilo, however, saw through the illusion of him appearing completely calm and innocently kind; she stared into his eyes, as he passed her from farther away. A glint of light crossed his lens, and at that split second she could see within him, the pure craze and hatred he felt toward Akibaba Kino; he was in a justified madness.

Stepping forward, slowly, calmly, toward Akibaba Kino, he stopped at the dragon's arm length in front of it. Akibaba Kino growled mockingly, Stitch appeared to be in just an angry state to the dragon; Akibaba Kino had no idea how deadly Stitch was right now.

The dragon extended the talons on his right hand, and swept its claws at Stitch's head. What seemed without motion, Stitch leaned his head back, making the claws just barely nick his nose. Akibaba Kino snorted in disdain, and attempted another sweep with his left talons, this time at Stitch's feet. Stitch jumped up into the air, just high enough for the dragon's claws to go under his feet, and landed.

Achie-baba Kino was now infuriated. He lifted both of his arms, and in a mantis fashion, attempted to clamp his claws around Stitch's neck. Bringing his arms up from his chest, smoothly, Stitch grabbed onto both of the blades with his hands, his elbows at a right angle, stopping the monster's claws from closing in. Stitch's arms did not move; Achie-baba Kino struggled to close his pincers around Stitch. Swiftly, Stitch ducked his head, and moved outside of the talons, and with the greatest dexterity, moved his hands from grabbing the blade of the talons, to gripping the outside.

Instantly, Stitch shifted his weight and leaned in the opposite direction, to throw the dragon against the adjacent wall. He hurled with such great force, that for a moment, they actually appeared to be moving in slow motion; throwing the dragon with such speed and force that he actually slowed down before reaching the climax of the throw, jetting Achie-baba Kino to a ground shattering smash against the far wall.

"No!" Lilo cried to Stitch, breaking free of Slushy's grasp; she ran toward the horrific blue figure that was not the Stitch she knew, and tackled him. "Stop it!" she cried to her friend, attempting to cease his madness.

Achie-baba Kino felt his stomach heave, as the he hurled of Lilo's illness, which was fatal toward him. He glanced over and saw Lilo tackle Stitch, before his vision blackened. Lilo wept over Stitch, as he was finally brought out of his feral rage, he looked over him to see what he had done; seeing the pain and grief he caused Lilo, he reverted from his hatred, and focused on Lilo's saddening pain.

"_You abomination!"_ Hamsterveil cried fiercely, as he pushed a small button on his floating pod. "Come Gantu, to the ship!" He ordered to his officer. They took haste, bolting past Lilo and Stitch, escaping to the ship and taking off.

"Stitch?" she asked, as he cleared her tears gently with his claws.

"Stitch sorry." He apologized, gazing deep into her eyes, for causing her such worry.

"Detonation in 10 seconds." Announced an automated voice, Jumba grabbed Pleakly, and ran out of the hanger, Lilo and Stitch did not hear the voice. They were in a focused stare on each other; Stitch feared himself, and that Lilo was now afraid and hateful toward him for what he'd done; Lilo fearing that she would lose her best, and only, friend. It was not until the computer announced 3 seconds until termination did the sirens and hollers of Jumba come to their attention.

For one second, Stitch stared over at where Angel had landed, and found only minor rivulets and streaks of blood on the cold, gray metal floor. Seeing that Angel was gone, on instinct and in a panic movement to save Lilo, he knocked her to the ground and covered her-shielding her-from the bright, silent flare that erupted the inferno…


	6. ER

Lullaby

C/By: Kenjaje

Edited/Revised by: raVen

Chapter 6: E.R.

_The reflection of all the island-the buildings, the people, the grass, the trees, the beach, the ocean, and the gleam of the now setting sun on all of the roofs of all of the houses-seemed so peaceful as the black car pulled up the mountain, up to the hanger; where a large intelligent man, and a nearly fainting skinny man, could be seen gazing into a bright light, that now shined and cast its brightness, covering the reflection of the peaceful island, as it gave birth to a hellish combustion…_

Nani stepped out of the car at the scene, only to arrive too late and see with her own eyes her little sister's absence, and the uproar of fire that came from the depths of the hangar. At first too struck for tears, for lament, and for grief, but just as she arrived to Jumba, who now was getting up from the recoil of the explosion, she fell onto his shoulder weeping.

Pleakley took the awestruck sister off of Jumba, to comfort her, as Bubbles stepped out of the car. He walked with a stern pace, his muscles tense, and anger surging through his veins at the scene; this was not the manner of a man who normally kept calm at these situations, but when it came down to a little girl, no man could keep calm.

"Where is she?" He asked, to Jumba, who looked at him in a calm, mature, expression.

"I could not save her in time." Jumba looked down, slightly, to Bubbles' mouth; he could not bear looking him in the eye, as he continued his report. "She, 626, and 523, were trapped inside…" He hesitated for a second, and then stared up at the eyes of his interrogator.

"In your own words, tell me what happened." He ordered, pulling out a recorder.

"How far back do you want? The fire or since we got here?" Bubbles' twitched his eyebrow.

"The fire, tell me what happened five minutes prior, and the cause of the fire, as well as what you did." Jumba took in a small breath, and began the story.

"626, was in a large fight with an experiment of Dr. Hamsterveil's, experiment was winning for a short time, but was then killed by 626. Hamsterveil then must have triggered a self-destruct mechanism, and as he fled the scene to Gantu's ship, a monitor stated ten seconds to explosion. I could not carry everyone out at the same time, I managed to gather Pleakley and 523, and was almost out, when 523 shot out of my arms and went back in, the force knocked me down, and at three seconds I was up and running out of there, ducking where you found me." The recorder clicked off, and bubbles turned around.

"Do you know they're condition?" He asked Jumba.

"No, I am sorry."

"I will call for a backup crew, I think we should take Nani home." Nani was now bawling over Pleakley's shoulder over the loss of Lilo and the loss of Stitch.

"So that's it?" She said, in a skeptical tone, "There's nothing more you can do?" she started screaming at Bubbles, "You can't go in, and see if she's there?" Bubbles kept his stern expression.

"Nani, you're getting irrational, you can't expect me to go in there, it's a smoldering hangar, and I'd be killed." Nani began to get angry, over the loss of her sister. She began to tremble, she did not want to accept any facts, and she believed that Lilo was alive. "Come on, there's nothing left here."

Taking Nani's arm, Bubbles quietly helped her to her feet, and took her along to the car. Jumba tried as hard as he could not to cry, his hope was giving into his reason; there was no way Lilo could have survived, but he didn't want to believe it. He started to the buggy, and motioned after Pleakley. Pleakley was bawling in silence, trying not to encourage Nani's sadness, he followed Jumba.

Everyone had lost his or her hope. Now everyone was convinced that there was no way Lilo could have survived. Bubbles had reached the door to help Nani in, and was just reaching the door handle, when a loud crash came from within the depths of the flurrying embers; all of them shot they're heads toward the mouth of the entrance and waited in silence.

For a long minute, nothing but crackling of fire, and a few sounds of scuffling could be heard. They saw nothing but flames, and were in doubt when the scuffling ceased for a long pause. Scoffing at their foolish behavior, they proceeded to enter the vehicles again, when another noise-a loud echoing step-leapt their hearts and turned they're heads.

Despite the failed heart risers, this time a plump silhouette appeared behind the wall of fire. It was slightly large at first, but with every step it resided smaller and smaller, until it was no bigger then a yard tall. Slowly, a blue figure stepped through the flames; in its arms a large bundle that it carried through, protecting it from the curtain of fire. The flames licked all around his body, but only for a small second as it proceeded through the wall, took a few more weak, and heavy slumped steps, and fell to the ground face first, dropping its bundle.

Stitch winced at the impact from the fall, his back was slightly singed and black, overall nothing was burned. He remained in a curled ball, slightly plump and obese. He waited a second, and then opened his eye; his sight darted behind him, seeing Slushy face first on the floor. Slushy lifted his head, and did a small pushup; just enough to balance on his knees, as he stared back at Stitch and smiled.

Within him, a small cry of pain came. Uncurling his four arms, his ears, his feet, and putting back his quills, he released what he had grasped onto; Lilo rolled over onto the floor in deep aching tears.

"My head…" She said, in a whispering, suffering voice, "My head, I'm burning…" Nani was now rampaging through dust, toward her little sister. She picked Lilo up, and hugged her tightly.

"Don't ever do that again…" She muttered, in a relieved tone. Quickly Nani shifted Lilo and carried her over her shoulder.

"Nani, don't…" Lilo weakly cried, as the blood painfully rushed to her heard.

"What's wrong?" Nani asked, grabbing Lilo and looking at her in the eye, moving her quickly from her shoulder, once again rushing the blood in her little sisters' head. Another shrill cry of suffering pain, and molten tears, came from the little girl, Stitch jumped up to his feet, not being able to take the empathy of her pain.

"Achada! Lilo has a fever!" He ordered and cried to Nani. Bubbles, hearing what Stitch said, walked calmly and quickly over to Lilo, and put the back of his wrist to her head, and just as quickly took it back.

"We need to get her to a hospital, _now_." He told the group, slow and patently, not rising, but lowering his voice on the emphasis of the word "now". He sincerely opened the door, and let Nani and, her sister sit, in the front seat, Bubbles then walked over to his side, and opened the door. "The rest of you come along in the buggy when you're ready; I'm taking Lilo and Nani now." He nodded to the four aliens, as he stepped into his car, and took off, now completely cutting off the peaceful reflection on its black paint. Stitch ran to the edge of the mountain trail, and peered over, as the car reached the brush line, and disappeared.

"Come 626, I will drive." Jumba said very friendly. Stitch drooped his ears, sank his shoulders and walked toward the small red buggy, overwhelmed with worry over Lilo. Sluggishly he entered the car, right next to Slushy, who patted his shoulder and smiled at him, in a way that said, _"everything will be all right."_

Gazing blankly out at the scene, the vision that was already blurred was enhanced that much more as the squeaky cart wheeled down the hallway at such dizzying speeds. Men in blue suits, men in white suits, women just the same, gathered around while the cart sped down a row of doors, seeming to endlessly roll into in an infinite corridor.

All of the doors, all of the walls, all of the lights, and all of the colors seemed exactly the same. Voices, few and low, slurred and muffled, but voices could be heard. Not all of them, but some, were audible.

"One-hundred three degrees…" could be understood, and the rest was muted.

"Get some ice ready in room three-sixteen." Was heard, clear and brisk. Turning, sharply to the right, and bursting through a green door. The quality of vision was slow, and caused the motion of the door to be slowed down and multiplied, leaving a small after-image of a fast moving object.

"One hundred four, one hundred four…" Numbers, only numbers, what did they mean? Pain, rushing pain, as the ice was applied around the neck; the ice seemed to distinctly increase the pain behind the eyes, magnifying the rushing liquid of suffering agony. Darkness…slowly consuming, slowly overwhelming, detaching from the world "We're losing her, she's getting too hot, more ice!"

"…And because Hamsterveil used your DNA to make Achie-baba Kino, I figured that the same earth sickness that can kill you, could kill or weaken him. Is simple, no?"

"Eh. Miga understand." Stitch and Jumba sat next to each other in the waiting room, Jumba explaining to Stitch what he thought about Achie-baba Kino and whole situation; Stitch half-heartedly cared about what Jumba had to say, he always listened; now it was just that he was more worried about Lilo.

Bubbles sat across from Nani, trying to keep her from a hysterical cascading tidal wave of tears, over the tension and suspense of rushing Lilo to the E.R. On their way, in the black car, they were pulled over by an officer. Bubbles flashed his badge, and the officer seemed to understand and called the hospital to report the arrival of a sickened patient.

Pleakley paced around in a circle, which was not helping Nani's condition. Slushy sat in a very monkish position, hands on his crossed knees, staring outward at the group, trying as hard as he could to discipline himself from crying, laughing, or talking, unless it needed to be done, keeping very solemn but not enough to make anyone's skin crawl.

"What's wrong, 626?" Jumba asked. Stitch drew his chin from his hand to Jumba in the eyes. Stitch's gaze toward Jumba was showing hopelessness, daze, lifelessness, and depression; as if his passionate soul was taken right from his body; his worriment of Lilo was far greater then anyone else's in the room. Worry that was so great, he would never allow himself to have peace of mind until everything was ok. "Stitch?" Jumba asked again, using his name, and not his number.

"Miga naga subra." He said, in an uncaring voice to further emphasize what he said to Jumba, answering the genius' concern.

"You don't care? Angel could have been killed by Achie-baba Kino; she was threatened death unless she lured you into the hangar." Jumba protested, trying his best to get Stitch out of anxiety. "Angel is fine," He began again, hoping that he was lamenting over Angel's assumed loss, "She probably escaped before the flare, I'm sure she's out somewhere in the woods recovering." Stitch looked away in frustration at Jumba. He was disappointed, at the fact that Jumba assumed he was weeping for Angel.

"_As if I didn't care about Lilo; as if I hadn't tried to talk to Lilo." _ He thought to himself in disgust. _"…Who am I kidding? I've been avoiding her the whole time…" _Just as he was coming to his realization, a woman in a white dress came through the door, Stitch was too deep in thought to notice her arrival, however.

"Mr. Jookiba?" She asked, panning the room.

"Yes, ma'am, how may I help you?" Jumba said, eyeing Nani's expression.

"Lilo had a temperature of one hundred-four degrees," the nurse began, looking at her clipboard, "but, we've been able to bring it back down to just over a hundred. We're going to ask that we keep her here for the next thirty-six hours just to make sure things are ok."

"I see, then shall we be going?" Jumba questioned the group.

"Oh, well that's not all…" the nurse exclaimed, trying to get Jumba's attention, "Lilo's asked to see someone by the name of…" she checked her clipboard again, "Stitch?" Stitch's ears twitched at the sound of his name, and he was forcibly taken from his deep thinking, he had just now noticed the woman in white.

"Jabaeh?"

"Excuse me?" The nurse asked.

"Stitch sorry, what do you want?" Stitch said, switching languages. _"Lilo would understand what I said." _ He told himself.

"Are you Stitch?" The nurse asked, pointing at him. Stitch nodded and shifted to the center of the chair. "Lilo wishes to see you, would you follow me please?" Stitch felt a small bit of dread come over him, but his depression shook off the feeling. Almost somnambulistic Stitch fell from the chair flat on his feet, and walked toward the nurse. He left to hear Nani's voice, screaming at Jumba for using _his_ last name.

The hall smelled just as it should; an overwhelming odor of Latex and, to him, traces of gas and metal. The nurse's high-heels crunched and crackled deeply on the tile floor, no matter what Stitch tried he couldn't drain that noise out of his mind. Passing rows and rows of doors to the right and to the left in a small hallway that reeked, and echoed of the paging system, made Stitch feel as though he was on trial; a trial that he had no idea what to do, how to act, or what to say. His heart thudded with nervousness. _"Why me? Why did she have to see me? What is she planning, is she going to yell at me?" _ His thoughts ended, as he and the nurse stopped before a door that read "Room 316".

"I'll come get you when visiting hours are over." The nurse said, and then proceeded back up the hall. Stitch stared at the door for a moment, sending the last pessimistic thoughts through his mind, before he came to the inevitable conclusion that there was no turning back, took in a deep breath, and turned the doorknob.

The small peeps and clicks of the machines were the first things to hit Stitch, as he stepped through to the slightly dark room. He glanced over to the curtains near the far wall, light blue with a white flower pattern tiled about them. He shut the door shut with a small creek, and a click that echoed throughout the room, he stood in silence, waiting to see if Lilo rustled or showed any sign of knowing his presence at all.

_"Why am I so scared?" _ He consoled himself, confused and nervous, _"I don't think I can see her now, not after how I treated her. But she wants to see me, she won't let me go."_ Despite his mind telling him to hold back and leave, his body disobeyed, and stepped forward with the soft yet loud clicking of his toes. He stepped up to the curtain, and with the most silent, tedious motion, pulled them aside. His heart now either stopped, or beat vigorously, he couldn't tell, he was too nervous to care.

A small tingling of metal stirred Lilo's ears. With barely a grunt, she used all of her concentration to open her eyes. Her head was heavy, as was the rest of her body, and she could barely feel her lips, her nose, her ears, or anything below her neck, she could only assume that her body was functional. A soft click hit her ear to the right. She turned her head slowly, slightly, to catch a figure in her blurry vision. She could barely tell who it was, because of the glare that came from the light above the desk that was behind the silhouette, but she did register the panicked pause in the figure's step as her eyes rolled toward it.

"Stitch?" She asked the figure, meekly and with a slightly low-crackled voice.

"Eh." Stitch replied, forcing past the knot of nervousness in his throat, trying to sound as clear as possible.

"Is that you?" She questioned his first answer making sure.

"Eh, miga Stitch." He replied again, still in the surprised standing position. Lilo looked at him so lazily, so helplessly, lying there in the hospital bed, her hair drooping across the pillow. Stitch tried his best to relax, but couldn't, something was holding him with fear, but he didn't know what caused him to be so afraid.

"I can't see you, I don't think you understand..." Lilo said, so sadly. Stitch took in a shivering breath, and silently walked forward. He grasped the cold bars of the bed, jumped up, and leaned over her head, staring into her eyes. "Now tell me," she asked, in a serious and stern tone "Is that really…_you_?" She moved her hand from her side, and out from under the sheets to brush his cheek. His blue head was still blurred, but a bit clearer behind the closer, dimmer fluorescent ceiling light that was behind him.

"Iba ju emplasa?" He asked, unsure of the answer she was looking for.

"Are you still mad?"

"Why…would Stitch be mad?"

"When you were fighting Achie-baba Kino," She replied, suppressing tears, "you were hateful and mad, I was terrified…"

"Terrified? At miga?" He asked, surprised. She nodded, shifting her weight to her right side, so she could stare at his face better. "Why?"

"I was…afraid…" She trailed, clenching her arms under the sheets. "Afraid that I was going to lose you." She told him honestly, looking into his eyes.

"Miga here, naga charuta." He reassured her, trying to hide his feelings from her to cheer her up.

"No, that's not what I mean…" Stitch leaned in closer, and sat on the bed by Lilo's side, to listen as she went on. "When I saw you so angry, so hateful toward Achie-baba Kino, and then when I saw you go through that rage, I knew that something happened inside of you; kind of like what happened before, when you went against what you were programmed to do in the first place."

"Be destructive?" He identified.

"Uh-huh," she continued, "When you changed from being a destroying alien to a friend, I was glad. But now, it's like your changing back again, but in a different way." Stitch looked down at himself, screening what happened back in the hanger.

"Was Stitch really _that_ terrifying…?" He asked, looking up at her, and in disbelief toward himself. He did not remember what he had done after he saw Lilo being thrown against the wall, that part of his memory was fogged and forgotten. She nodded to him. He looked down again, his ears drooping in his own grief. "Then, what does Stitch do? Stitch doesn't want to scare Lilo again…"

"Then just be normal, be like the Stitch that I know. I was frightened that I was going to lose the Stitch that knew me as a friend, and gain a Stitch that would run away and leave me. I thought I was going to lose someone close to me." Stitch kept his gaze downward, he didn't want to look at Lilo after causing her such sadness. They went without saying a word for a long time, after a while Lilo laid back her head. In the end, it was she who broke the silence. "Did you see if Angel made it out ok?" Stitch's lips tightened.

"I don't care…I-" The door to room 316 opened loudly, causing them both to jump with shock.

"Mr. Stitch, visiting hours are almost over, I'm going to ask you leave within the next three minutes." The nurse called from outside of the door, and instantly shut it with a click.

"Stitch sorry." He said, meaning he was sorry he had to leave, and sorry for terrifying her so much. He began to jump off the bed.

"Just promise me one thing…" she started, he turned his head to her, and she looked him in the eyes.

"Anything." He vowed.

"Never change like you did while fighting Achie-baba Kino again.." She pleaded, on the verge of tears.

"Stitch promise." He reassured her, and gave her a small hug; one that meant he'd see her again soon. He looked at her face, one last time, jumped off the bed, and started for the door.

"I love you, Stitch" She told him, lying back down.

_"I wish I could say the same…but then I don't know if I'd be lying…" _He told himself, thinking of Angel, he smiled and shut the door quietly. Outside he stood pausing at the door and holding his breath, to hear the muffled tears of relief falling onto a hospital pillow, and the soft clicks of the machinery…


	7. Confessions

Lullaby

C/By: Kenjaje

Edited/Revised by: raVen

Chapter 7: Confessions

(2 weeks prior to Lullaby's events)

"Agata!" Stitch cried, as he, Richter, Slushy, and Lilo, chased Gantu and 625 through the woods for experiment: 127. They were, however, not trying to find Gantu and 625, but rather to get to his ship before he was able to take off.

As Gantu and his comrade entered they're flying base, Gantu quickly put 127 into a holding pod, and proceeded toward the keypad, frustratingly pounding the keys to initiate take-off. 625 was hurriedly checking to see if anything of his value wasn't bolted to the floor of the ship's hull.

Stitch's team was already at the ship by the time Gantu had processed the command to lift it off the ground, quickly Stitch pounded the ship's shell and broke the weak spot-slightly reinforced he noticed-and they made their way through the ducts.

They wasted no time in finding Gantu in the control room, however Gantu was ready for them, he expected them. Blasting all of them in one shot, not even Stitch could react fast enough. As the ship took off he separated them, selectively, into different holding cells.

Stitch woke, to find himself in a cell not far from Lilo, in a different room. He could not see Richter or Slushy in any other cell. He looked around for a way to escape, but these seemed a bit thicker then the one's up front in the ship.

"Ah finally awake I see, cuz." Said 625 as he entered the room, he then bowed like a gentlemen as Angel strode in-so aristocratically-and quietly left Angel, shutting the door and locking it on his way out.

Angel smiled at Stitch, trying her best to put on the show she was commanded to. An evil smile, a smile that meant nothing but intentions of torture for Lilo and he. Still smiling, she walked to the button and allowed Lilo's cell to rise, because of the noise, Lilo woke and was happy to see a familiar face.

"Angel!" Lilo cried happily, to see a rescuer at a time like this. Deftly, Angel took her hand and slapped Lilo hard across the face. "Ow…what did you do that for?" Lilo said, in a complaining way. Angel did not speak her mind, she merely hit Lilo, very hard, in the stomach.

Stitch started crying to Angel, demanding to know why she was beating Lilo, but Angel said nothing. She merely proceeded hitting Lilo. She hit Lilo in the stomach, and made her double over, and lose her breath.

She did not stop attacking Lilo there, however, again she hit Stitch's friend, on the back, on the calves, the feet, neck, arms, head, everywhere. Stitch was devastated, awestruck, as to how fast and silent this beating was. He could here Lilo's screams, soft and low because she couldn't breathe as deeply.

Angel stopped her beating, looked at Stitch and smiled. Stitch saw a small tear run down Angel's cheek, as she whispered something to Lilo, and quickly left the room in a sprint. Stitch was furious, in his feral rage he broke the glass of the cell with his fist, and ran toward Lilo.

Picking her up, he darted out the door, and was in another room of cells, this time containing Richter and Slushy. Swiftly he broke their glass cells-still in rage-and urged them in a way that said 'shut up and follow me, or I don't care about you'.

They were able to leave the ship before it took off, the walk of Stitch carrying Lilo was long and unwanted. Halfway through, Stitch felt guilty; he had just seen his lover beat the life of his best friend-or second lover he did not know-and yet he still loved her. For the next two weeks, Lilo stayed in bed recovering from her wounds, Stitch tried to forget about what happened, and not remind her either…

Stitch woke, and looked at the clock, 4:18 a.m. Wind soothingly howled against the night air, and brushed lightly by the window; now repaired. He lay on his back, and recalled the conversation between Lilo and Nani, just a few hours before.

"_Oh, Lilo, why didn't you tell me when you started feeling sick? We could've helped stop the fever."_

"_I'm sorry Nani, but, I didn't want to make you any more mad at me after Stitch broke the window, I knew you would probably just say I was lying and blow me off anyway…"_

"_Lilo, baby, that's not true. Honey, you need to tell people these kinds of things, otherwise you could cause more pain for yourself and everyone else."_

"_Ok…goodnight Nani."_

"_Goodnight Lilo, Stitch already went to sleep so be quiet."_

He heard the conversation; he couldn't sleep until Lilo entered the room. He had to see that she was ok, one last time, before he could live with himself in slumber. Though there was more, this is what caught his attention. _"Stitch need to talk to Lilo, about Angel…"_ The thoughts biting his mind overwhelmed him, and he had to tell someone he knew; the only one that he wanted to tell was Lilo. She was, after all, whom he feared would leave him alone and in solitude, if he didn't tell her why he hadn't talked to her very much.

Taking a deep breath, he rolled off of his mattress, and stood up to look at the bed. He gathered the courage to wake her up and talk to her, but found that Lilo's head was absent on the pillow, the lump under the sheets was now flat, and her soft breath couldn't be heard. The thought of her running away crossed his mind, he instantly disregarded it though. _"Lilo never left."_

He put his hands down on his soft mattress, clenching them together, not in anger or frustration, but thinking of where Lilo could be. His stomach felt slightly lighter while he thought, maybe out of excitement or anticipation.

Sleep dominated him as he thought, and caused him to close his eyes seductively. In drowse, he walked up to Lilo's bed, and fell upon it's pillow-still warm. He knew it meant she hadn't been gone long, perhaps just to the restroom, or maybe downstairs; he would wait for her, until she returned.

He was unable to fall asleep; half of his mind was spent keeping him awake while lying relaxed on Lilo's bed, waiting for her to return to the room. Minute upon minute passed by, until about 27 after, Stitch began to worry. He laid in quietness, listening to nothing but the darkness. That is, until the darkness was broken, by a small sigh. He searched the room to see if Lilo had opened the door without his hearing, or if she had seen him on the bed and was now sighing of sarcasm. She was not there.

His hands bent toward his head, as he lifted himself with a push-up, and looked at the wall to his right. He panned the bookshelves and the window-seat, along with the far doll collection and window itself. He did not see her.

Still on locked elbows, he listened sternly for the sound of Lilo. It wasn't long until he could hear her breathing, which came from outside. He stayed to hear her still for a few times longer, just to make sure he was accurately assuming where she was, and if it really was Lilo, before he went to the window and peered outside.

There was a small and faint flicker of orange light on the ground. He opened the window noiselessly, and tediously stuck his head and looked in the direction of the orange glare. There, was lit a torch, looming its flare over Lilo; illuminating her hair, while she sat on the hammock outside. She faced away from the window, her back to Stitch; she didn't see him come out of the window, nor did she hear him step up to the torch, and lean his back against it.

"What do I do?" Lilo asked toward the sky, Stitch jumped mutely. He eased, once he knew that she was not talking to him. She didn't know he was behind her. "Stitch is broken, he's hurt over what happened in the hangar. I don't want him to feel…how he's feeling, whatever he may be feeling right now. I want him to talk to me, I don't want him to be afraid to talk to me, I don't want to lose him because of something I might be doing."

"Lilo is not doing anything wrong." Stitch said aloud. Lilo gasped in surprise, she relaxed after a moment, but did not look behind her.

"Stitch?" She asked, to find out if he was still there.

"Eh." He said, in a 'caught' tone of voice. "Stitch heard…what Lilo said…Stitch sorry." Lilo mouthed the words 'it's ok' but did not speak them, Stitch sounded as though he had something on his mind. He said nothing, and she didn't look back. The crickets chirped in an omnipresent stereo around them.

"If I'm not doing anything wrong," Lilo started, breaking the silence, "why are you depressed, and avoiding me?" Stitch brought in a quavering sigh, trying to hide his nervousness; here is where he was at a loss of words, he hadn't though of what to say, how to tell Lilo about what was on his mind. Still, she was listening, and for him, it was now that he had to speak, regardless of how ready he was.

"Stitch is…scared…" He told her, hesitantly.

"About Angel?" Lilo asked. Stitch let out a tear.

"Naga, Stitch is scared Lilo hates Stitch." He paused again for words, and to let another tear roll down his fur, Lilo waited for him to continue. "Stitch love Angel, and Angel hurt Lilo. Stitch loves Angel, but is afraid Lilo hates Stitch for liking Angel, and doesn't want to be with Stitch anymore."

"Is that all?" She asked, openly.

"Stitch wants to be with Angel, and Lilo too, but doesn't want Lilo to hate Stitch."

"I don't hate you, Stitch." She told him, smiling. "Angel beat me to a pulp, yes, but she had said she was sorry before she did it."

"Lilo doesn't hate Angel?" He asked, surprised.

"No, at least…not anymore. I don't think Angel wanted to do that to me. I think she was forced to do that."

"Stitch still doesn't want Lilo to feel second though…Stitch love Angel but Stitch love Lilo too…just not as much…" Another tear trickled down, as he realized what a selfish thought that was. He had just told Lilo he didn't love her as much as Angel; that he had second handed her.

"Can I ask _you_ something, Stitch?"

"Jaba?" He answered her.

"Do you think we can stop being friends…and more like a real family?" She asked, thinking this was an oddly placed question.

"Naga nota ju shiba rata." Stitch said, confused.

"I mean…can we start acting like a brother and sister, instead of a dog and owner, or friends? I know it sounds odd when I say it…but that's what I feel like you and I are; brother and sister."

"Does this mean…Lilo isn't mad at Stitch for loving Angel more?" Another tear had stroked his fur, no matter how hard he tried to hold them; one would creep out after every time he asked a question.

"I was never mad at you, Stitch, I was mad at Angel because she was giving you so much grief. I had no idea, that it was all inside you, though, and not her fault." She looked back, for the first time at Stitch, and saw him hunched over, his hands between his knees, and his head down, she saw a tear streak down his eye. "I'm not mad at her, not anymore." She told him.

Lilo shifted her weight in the hammock, so that she wasn't looking at Stitch's deep thinking. She blushed at what she had said, about them being 'brother and sister', but then again, she had said weirder things to him then that. She could always open up to him.

"Do you think…Angel is still…" Stitch pondered to Lilo aloud.

"I don't know." She told him. Stitch sighed in sadness. "But-"

"Dum spiro, spero." Stitch interrupted, looking up.

"What does that mean?" Lilo asked softly, putting out the torch that lit the area, causing the orange tint on the grass to become a darkened peace.

"It means, 'as long as I breathe, I have hope.'" He spoke softly, and reflectively. Lilo knew that 'hope' referred to Angel being alive. Slowly, she took herself off of the hammock, and landed with a small thud on the ground. A look of extreme empathy was engraved on her face; a scornful frown, and a friendly sparkle in her eyes. Stitch still remained with his back toward her, Lilo's empathy was already felt by him, he didn't have to see it.

"Then…" Lilo said, letting go from the hammock, and walking over to Stitch, "I'll keep breathing, right along with you." She put her arms around his neck, and held him in a tight hug. He quivered at the gesture, not expecting it, but did nothing to stop it. "I love you Stitch, and I'll do anything I can to make you happy." He gripped her arms, and closed his eyes, returning her hug without turning around.

Stitch love Lilo…also." He told her. _"And this time…it's not a lie…"_

**Atichura**

**(The end)**

To raVen; for twisting my arm.

"Promise The sequel to Lullaby" coming soon!!!


End file.
